The university: a school at the service of truth

Abstract

The article focuses on two issues that are key to the university institution. On one hand, it indicates that one of the risks that beset the university is the neglect in the search for truth; but another risk it faces is about forgetting the true mission of the university: human development. The ideal of the search for truth has characterized the university from its beginnings. For this reason, turning the university into a mere professional training ignores the humanistic education that should not be separated from the se arch for truth. To preserve the original university ideal implies understanding the teaching activity as a service. That is why the teacher must advocate every student’s development, trying to help him or her to discover what really matters as a person. The current university must not forget that the teaching task of transmitting superior knowledge needs the latter to be increased also by those who receive this academic education. Therefore, the teacher’s task must be inclusive of all knowledge, avoiding fragmentation that can lead to lose the horizon of the search for truth.